PunkBuster: An Ideally Definitive Guide for Bad Company 2.

A guide covering the PunkBuster anti-cheat service, common problems, and solutions for them with a step-by-step process.

(If you want others to see it, give a thumbs up rating. That is the only way Steam tracks the guide for 5 Star popularity ratings.)

The Premise.

After seeing far too many new and returning players constantly receive kicks and temporary bans by PunkBuster for entirely fixable reasons, and having tried and failed to make contact with many of them in an effort to resolve these issues, I felt a pressing need to write up a guide on this topic.

For those of you looking to play Bad Company 2 without recurring, non-RaS-related kicks, nor wanting to contend with Nexus modded servers, this guide may be the one for you.

Part One: Even Balance.

The creators and maintainers of PunkBuster, Even Balance, inc., maintain an official website at https://evenbalance.com/ . This serves as the official repository of information and download links for PunkBuster, in spite of usually being in HTTP only.

For the purpose of this guide, I will be elaborating on Even Balance's official explanations of kick messages as found on the site's FAQ page ( https://evenbalance.com/faq.php ), and listing fixes for the solvable ones through what the site offers.

Again, Global and local GUID bans from servers do not apply to this guide, as they are permanent. Only the local GUID ban is resolvable, and even then it must be done with the server admin.

Anyway, on to the respective kick message fixes.

Part Two: Fixing "This PB Server Requires (A1382 | C2.305) - Error Loading (Filename)." with PBSetup.

This is the most common form of solvable kick message I have seen in-game, and the most irritating to deal with. It can come up almost immediately upon joining a server, in the middle of a match intermittently, or at the start of a new round depending on when the server performs or finishes its PunkBuster security checks.

Even Balance, Inc.'s FAQ page explains this as being "One or more of the PunkBuster components is not installed or operating correctly. Use our PBSetup and PBSVC tools." However, the more exact explanation for this is that the game's PunkBuster game files are detected as being out of date compared to the newer version the server uses, and needs to be updated on the player's end.


For this, PBSetup is needed.
1. Visit https://evenbalance.com/pbsetup.php .

2. Download PBSetup version 3.8 for Windows. It will come in a .ZIP file, so you will need to extract it.



3. Extract the contents of PBSetup to a location where you know you can find it again easily Namely, Program Files (x86), as that is where 32-bit programs are meant to be installed. (Optionally, create a new folder titled "PB" or "PunkBuster" for this, as a single location to store both PBSetup and a manually downloaded PBSVC.)



4. Right-click on PBSetup.exe and click Run as Administrator. If you are already an administrator account in Windows, just click on the PBSetup executable.

5. Accept the PBSetup license agreement.



You should now be inside PBSetup's GUI. From here, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 must be manually added to update its PunkBuster files.
6. In PBSetup, click Add Game.



7. Click the Game: drop-down menu and click on Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The default folder path is incorrect for a Steam install location, however, so do not add it just yet.



8. Click Browse.

9. You will need to manually navigate to the install location of Bad Company 2. Assuming it is located in the C:/ drive, it will be in C:/Program Files (Include x86 depending on where Steam was installed)/Steam/steamapps/common/Battlefield Bad Company 2. Do not add the pb folder inside the Battlefield Bad Company 2 folder directory. Only add up to the Battlefield Bad Company 2 game folder.



(For Origin users, the game folder you need may be located somewhere within the Origin folder directory, but I am not sure where exactly at this time. I will update this step with the exact folder path at some point.)

10. If added correctly, PunkBuster will now auto-update Battlefield Bad Company 2's PunkBuster game files, and you should no longer experience this specific kick message in servers.


Optional Step 6.: If you own Battlefield 3, 4, and/or Hardline, add the respective folder paths to those games in PBSetup. It may save a lot of headache in the future if you have been experiencing this type of kick in those titles as well.

Part Three: Fixing "Service Communication Failure: (PnkBstrA.exe or PnkBstrB.exe)." with PBSVC.

Even Balance's explanation of this kick message is the exact same as the one for "This PB Server Requires (Newer Version Numbers)", which is that one or more PB components are not installed or working properly.

The more exact cause of this kick message is that the PBSVC installation on your system managed to become corrupted or slightly broken at some point. To fix this we will need to reinstall PBSVC, but there are two methods to try.

Method 1: Installing the latest version of PBSVC from EvenBalance.com . (Strongly Recommended.)
1. Even Balance, Inc. has a newer version of PBSVC available on its site(v0.994, in comparison to BC2's included v0.988). To locate it, visit https://evenbalance.com/downloads.php .

2. Click on the embedded installation link in the PunkBuster Service Installer (pbsvc) section.



3. Download the PBSVC.exe file. (Optionally, if you created a new folder for PBSetup's install location in Part One, move this newer PBSVC.exe from Downloads to that folder.)

4. Right-click on the new PBSVC.exe and click Run as Administrator, or Run it as usual if you are the Administrator account in Windows.



5. Click Un-Install/Remove PunkBuster Service, click Next, and follow the removal process. This will remove any existing versions of PBSVC on your system.



6. Restart your PC.

7. Once restarted, go back to the new PBSVC.exe installation and run it again.



8. Click Install/Re-Install PunkBuster Service, click Next, and follow the installation process.



9. Restart your PC. The PunkBuster service should now run on startup, and appear in Add or Remove Programs or Settings>Apps in Windows 10 as PunkBuster Services 0.994.

— — —

Method 2: Using the PBSVC version included with Bad Company 2.
1. Locate the PBSVC file inside the Steam installation path. Assuming it is on the C:/ drive, it should be C:/Program Files (Include x86 if necessary)/Steam/steamapps/common/Battlefield Bad Company 2/install/PunkBuster/pbsvc_bc2.exe.



2. Right-click on PBSVC_bc2.exe and click Run as Administrator, or if you are the administrator account in Windows, just run the .exe as usual.

3. Click on Un-Install/Remove PunkBuster Service, Click Next, and follow the removal process.



4. Restart the PC.

5. Once restarted, go back to the folder path in Method 1, Step 1, and run PBSVC again.



6. Click Install/Re-Install PunkBuster Service, click Next, and follow the installation process.



7. Restart your PC. PunkBuster should now run on startup, and the kick should no longer apply.

— — —
Author's Note: There is no need to replace the PBSVC_bc2.exe file in Bad Company 2's folder directory with the newer version installed via Method 2. Following Method 2's steps will remove and replace any prior PunkBuster Services installations globally with the latest version.

Part Four: MD5Tool Kicks.

These are entirely server-side kicks, caused by sufficiently high packet loss or bufferbloat in your network leading to the server failing to complete PunkBuster checks. These will usually coincide with kicks or temporary bans for No Packet Flow, which is the real underlying problem.

Service Communication Failure kicks can also be caused by high packet loss or bufferbloat preventing the two PunkBuster Services from communicating with each other, but this is rare unless they coincide with No Packet Flow kicks.

Conclusion.

With this guide completed, I hope you all finally have a solution to common, yet solvable PunkBuster kicks that have been preventing you from playing consistently or at all in most servers. May it also serve as a way to increase awareness of Even Balance, Inc. and its website as an official repository for all things PB, for as long as it remains up.

If you have any questions or comments about the guide, feel free to send a reply, and I will get to it when I can.

Good day, and good bye for now.

Regards,
—TS2.

[Ren]

Me still hearing about Punk Buster in 2024 -_-

[pink]

fn punx

[RedShocktrooper]

Probably because of the way PunkBuster is supposed to work making it look and act a lot like a virus. I've never liked PB for this reason.

[MrHustler]

Why does this come with 4 Trojans?

https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/0312defa0cb061af2c1a141734d405ff8ebdcd6b4419d31dd7c7d9cc4dbe8e2a

[Dall of Cuty ⁧⁧ ⎝⧹KiTiTy⧸⎠]

meow

[Foosh]

@✠ Kieran D ✠

Yes you can, you just have to do it via Desktop mode and know where BFBC2 is installed.

[Phily-kun]

I love you <3

[Dino]

Thanks! Epic

[✠ Kieran D ✠]

i cant run this download on my steamdeck

[Diesel Gus]

Cheers bro!